Forsaken
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: When Max loses her memory while playing with the Gasman, things can't seem to get any worse. That is until that game Gazzy played turns out to have unleashed some sort of demon onto the island, bent on killing them all. With one Flock member under the demon's spell, it's up to Fang to rally the falling apart Flock and save the day...but can he? Post-Nevermore
1. Chapter 1

Forsaken

Chapter 1

"You just don't want to do it because you're scared."

"No, Gasman, I don't want to do it because it's stupid."

"But, Max," he whined in a way only a boy his age could. "I wanna do it!"

"Then you do it."

"With you and Fang and Iggy and Nudge and Angel and Dylan and Total. Not alone."

"Why? Are you scared?"

"No!"

Here we were, in an island full of wonders and fun, but Gazzy still found time to bother me. Great.

"Max, I just think that it would be a good bonding thing for all of us."

Fang, who was sitting down in the sand next to me, glanced up from the piece of wood he was carving into. He thinks that he's good at whittling and I haven't found a way to tell him how horrible he is yet. I'm thinking…harshly?

"Bonding? No thanks, Gazzy. Now, Max, if you've ever considered that bondage we talked about before-"

"Fang."

"Can't hate a man for trying," he mumbled before going back to his wood. The Gasman made a face.

"Anyways, please? And you can make everyone else come too, huh?"

"Gazzy, I'm not-"

"Please? You never do anything for me anymore."

"Welcome to the club."

Fang got an elbow to the side.

"You know what, Gazzy? Sure. I'll get everybody up on the mountain at sundown, okay? Then we'll go on this zombie hunt-"

"Ghost, Max. Who believes in zombies anymore?"

"Right, whatever."

After he was gone, Fang said, "I think you'd make a hot zombie. A hot ghost too."

"What about a hot vampire?"

"Meh. Maybe with some red hair…Ow! No pinching, Max."

I just shook my head, looking out over my island. Fang and I were sitting on the beach, watching the waves. We were supposed to be hanging out alone, up in the caves, but Fang hadn't felt like flying up there. Now, thanks to him, we have to fly all the way up to the top of the mountain to go ghost hunting with the Gasman. Yeah.

"So…do you believe in ghosts?"

I glanced at Fang. "No. I'm not five. Why? Do you?"

"I'm not five, but you should know this."

"Five inches is more like it."

"You're a real jerk sometimes." Fang glanced at me. "You could have always told him no. He's not a little kid anymore, Max. He's what, twelve?"

"Still, Fang, he wanted to hangout with us. Who can say that?"

"Most any guy's little brother will want to hang out with him. He tries to get me to hangout with him and his friends all his time." Fang glanced at me. "I can't though, because I have to put so much time into dealing with you."

"Oh yeah, I'm definitely holding you back."

"Thank you for acknowledging that fact."

"Spell acknowledging."

"You first, babe."

"…Touché."

* * *

"Alright, Gasman, I got everyone here. Now what?"

He looked around, as if doing a head count. Dylan, Angel, Nudge, Nudge's boyfriend (who just had tag along, Max, how dumb could you be to think he would miss out on this?), Iggy, Total, Fang, me, and, as much as I hated it, my sister. Bleh. We had had a falling out a few weeks back and I still wasn't over it. In my defense though, any sister that flashes her boobs at your boyfriend isn't a sister at all. Yeah. Anyways…

"Okay, so we should start the with the island legend."

Iggy groaned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Gasman, I've told you, there is no legend about this dumb island."

"Okay, first off, my island is not dumb. Second off, Iggy, shut your mouth and let him play his little game," I said before nodding at Gasman. "Go on."

"It's not a game, Max. And I'm not playing. This island is haunted."

"The kid speaks the truth, man," Nudge's boyfriend, David, said, nodding his head. She just rolled her eyes. "Like this one time, when I was drunk, I was-"

"Okay, Gazzy, it's not a game. Just get on with this. Fang and I have plans tonight."

"Fine, but I doubt your plans will happen. You probably won't even be able to sleep tonight."

"Oh trust me, they won't be," Ella commented ryly.

"You know what, Ella? You can go f-"

"Alright, Max, calm down." Dylan, who had been standing next to Iggy, came closer, now taking his place between me and my sister.

"Yeah, babe. She's just jealous that she really will be sleeping tonight while we're-"

"If any of you can sleep," Gasman blurted in while Ella sent my boyfriend a glare. "Now, back to the legend. As you all know, Dr. Martinez and all her scientists friends discovered this island years ago now, but did you know what first took place on this island?"

"I'm guessing nothing nice," Nudge mumbled as she went over to a rock pile and sat down on one, her boyfriend following. We were on top of the mountain of the island, standing at the entrance of the cave. Inside, Gasman had already planned some sort of séance or something. Whatever.

Angel, who was standing in front of me, looked up at the sky. "I dunno, Gaz. The sky seems pretty clear tonight. Shouldn't we wait for a stormy night to do this? Or at least a full moon?"

"That has nothing to do with the legend, Angel, so why would we?"

"Because the legend if for babies. I want a real ghost."

"This is a real ghost!"

"No!"

"Yes, it is! You wouldn't know because you're just a big baby."

"You're a baby!"

"No!"

"Stop it," I finally said, patting Angel on her blonde head. The Gasman was standing in front of all of us, in the center of the semi circle we formed. "Either get on with this or don't do it at all, Gasman."

"It is the perfect night for this anyways, Angel. All the scientists are off the island and most of the older people went with them. So it's just us, a few other kids, and...the spirits."

"If you don't get on with it, you can't do it," I warned.

He let out a deep breath, blowing his too long hair out of his face. I had offered to cut it last week, but he knew I was still steaming about the Ella thing and wanted me nowhere near his hair.

"Alright, well, back in the 1800s, this island was used by pirates for a stopping ground. For the longest time, they never went any further than the caves which we live in now. One day though, some of the pirates decided to check out the rest of the island on one of their stops here. So, five of them headed up the mountain, to the very top. Along they way, they saw all sorts of weird things."

"Like what?" Nudge asked, though she was busy tying her shoe and actually seemed more interested in that.

"Like bones lying around, trees with their trunks painted in what looked like blood, all sort of weird designs on them."

"Because this is believable," Fang mumbled in my ear as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "So, babe, about tonight-"

"Shhh." I glanced up at him. "And no more calling me that."

"Well, babe-"

"Guys, listen to me!" Gasman sent the two of us a look as Fang's arm dropped back down to his side, defeated. "Anyways, it wasn't until they made it to the top of the mountain, this very spot, that they witness the worst sight of all."

"What?"

"Right here, where we're standing, was a group of people, all dressed in animals skin, feasting on meat."

"So?" Nudge glanced at David, rolling her eyes heavily.

"It wasn't just any meat, Nudge, it was human meat. They were eating one of their own, a sacrifice to the god of life and death."

"Who eats sacrifices?" Fang mumbled, but he just got elbowed again. "You're really getting on my nerves, babe."

"Stop that."

Gazzy cleared his throat. "So they were eating a guy-"

"Like, all of him?" Nudge asked. "All of him?"

"Oh, God, Nudge." I made a face at her.

"I was talking about the butt and organs, Max, thank you. What were you talking about?"

"Oh, we all know," Ella said, not looking at Fang or me.

"No. What?" David asked in complete honesty.

"Guys, can we just get on with this?" Dylan asked, scratching the back of his head, clearly uncomfortable. Welcome to my world, Dylan.

"For real. No one cares about what Max and Fang do or what Ella wants to do," Iggy commented with evident glum. He and my sister had broken up months ago now, but it was clear that he was still very upset with her. I glanced at Dylan when I thought that before shaking my head.

"Anyways," Gasman went on. "The pirates flipped out. I mean, yeah, they're pirates, but they don't eat people! There were human body parts just scattered around with evident teeth marks and everything. It had to have been gross. Cool, but gross."

Sighing, I leaned against Fang's arm. "So what does this have to do with this zombie?"

"Ghost."

"Whatever."

"Well, when the pirates flipped out, the people saw them. They weren't equipped to attack these newcomers and the pirates very quickly squelched any chance of a rebellion. Of course, in the process, they had to kill many of the cannibal tribe. A few escaped into the caves, right here, this very cave, and ran for protection. One unlucky pirate went after them."

"What happened to him?" Nudge asked.

"They don't know. All the other four heard were his screams. They were so freaked already by the cannibalism that they fled back down the mountain, never looking back." Gasman stood up straighter. "Now we're gonna go into the cave and investigate."

David raised his hand which only pleased the twelve year old more. When Gasman called on him, Nudge's boyfriend, just for now I hope, asked, "So what was it that Max was eating?"

"Dude, you're about to-"

"Calm down, Fang, he's just a stupid kid." I squeezed his hand, making Dylan roll his eyes. "Come on then, Gasman. Are you ready to go into the cave or is there more?"

"Nope." He turned around to face the cave behind him. "Let's go."

It was then that I realized how quiet Total had been. When I looked over at him though, I found it was because he had fallen asleep beneath Nudge and David's feet. Well then. Someone doesn't get to go on the super fun ghost adventure. Stupid dog.

Gazzy seemed kind of disappointed when I made Angel leave Total outside and let him sleep, but quickly recovered as we moved to the cave.

"Everybody stay close together," he said, which made Fang reclaim his arm's place over my shoulders.

"Got you."

"No babe?"

"You said you hate it. But I do have you…babe."

I saw Iggy gag and Ella cut her eyes, but I just stared up at Fang and smiled. Then I looked forward, trying to find Gasman, but he had run off ahead of all of us.

"Gasman, don't get hurt, okay?" I called after him.

"What? You honestly believe in the ghost?" Nudge asked from behind me.

"No, but it so dark in here. I don't want him running into- Iggy, that's not funny. You totally knew that rock was there. Stop it before you hurt yourself."

"Gee, Max, blame the blind guy for running into something."

"You only did it to be funny."

"Yes, because hurting the disabled is funny. You're lucky this isn't a democracy, because you say so many bad things, you'd have been voted out by now."

"Yeah, yeah."

Angel, who was walking in front of me, asked, "Hey, Max?"

"What?"

"How come we have to do this?"

"Because it'll please your brother."

She made a face. "He's stupid then."

"Just be nice, okay? He does a lot of stuff for you."

"Like what?"

"…Don't put me on the spot like this, Angel. And besides, Angel," I went on. "We're all bonding."

Everyone but her looked to Fang. Finally, David asked, "No bondage joke?"

"Trust me, he's already made one," I mumbled, blushing in the darkness. It was very dark in there, I'll give Gasman that. Even with my night vision I was having trouble.

"Guys, are you coming?" Gazzy called out, his voice echoing through out the cave. If there is a spirit in here, he's more than awakened it. He's probably broken its eardrums.

"Yes, God," Nudge complained, taking David's hand and hurrying along. Dylan sighed as he went over to Iggy and put his hand on his shoulder, guiding him along. Not one to be left behind, Ella hurried to catch up, Angel right behind her.

"You know we could cut and run right now," Fang offered.

"Then you won't get what I promised you when this is all over."

"You mean-"

"You know what I mean."

Smiling brightly, he squeezed my shoulder. "Coming, Gasman!" To me, he added, "You better keep up your end of the deal."

I just smiled as he hurried me along. When we got to where the others were, I could see better if only because the Gasman had lit candles all around. Everyone was seated in a circle, waiting for us. There wasn't room for Fang and me to sit together, so I sent him to go sit between Angel and her brother, in case they decided to fight again. I took my place next to Dylan and Iggy, just thankful that I didn't have to sit next to Ella. Or David for that matter.

"Do we all really have to hold hands?" Nudge asked Gasman, frowning at Ella. When she got an eye roll, she said, "Maybe I was complaining about David."

Her boyfriend nodded. "I only bathe twice a week."

"That's so cool," Gazzy said, easily deterred as always. "Max-"

"No. Now hurry up." I kind of wanted to do what I promised Fang anyways. Well, more than I wanted to do this at least. "Please."

He took a deep breath before grasping Fang and David's hands. Fang stared into my eyes and I read how much he hated this from that one glance. I didn't feel all that bad about it, seeing as how I was going to repay him tonight anyways.

"Everyone close their eyes," Gasman said, staring upward. Angel glanced up there before doing so, though she kept peeking her eyes open.

"Come on, Max," Dylan whispered to me, giving me a wink as he slipped his warm hand into mine. "This could be fun."

Yeah, that's what this is. Fun. Sigh. At least the Gasman was having fun.

"All spirits, the dearly departed," he was saying as I finally shut my eyes. "Come to us. Come to us now."

Iggy slipped his hand from mine to put it to his head. "Twelve, Max. Twelve."

"Gazzy, don't get in trouble," I warned, though I was quickly shushed. Well then.

"Are you there spirits? Come if you- Ow, Fang," he complained as the older boy squeezed his hand.

"Then knock it off."

"I'm contacting the spirits, thank you very much."

"Leave the boy to it," David said. "He's the wise one in this."

Nudge giggled, but I'm almost sure that David was serious. God, I swear if she stays with him more than another week, I'm going to blow my brains out…

"I'm bored," Angel complained. "When do the spirits come? Huh?"

"We have to conjure them," her brother told her. "If Max and Fang would chill, I could do that."

"Use the word come inappropriately again and you won't be conjuring anything," Fang warned, making Angel frown.

"Huh?"

"Nothing," I said, shooting Fang a look as Ella giggled. Rolling my eyes, I told Gasman that if he stopped one more time, none of us would play his little game.

"Alright, alright, cool your tits."

"Gazzy-"

"Ooh, spirits," he began again. "Spirits of the great beyond. Are you there? Spirits? Demons? I allow you entrance into the body of Max-"

"That's it," Fang started, pulling his hand from Gazzy's hand as the twelve year old smiled. "You little-"

"Fang-" Dylan started, but he too was cut off, only it wasn't by a person. What silenced him was a swift wind that came in, blowing out each candle.

"The spirit's here," Gasman said excitedly, grabbing Fang's hand once more. "Spirit, we are interested in learning your ways. Show us, spirit, what you did to that pirate, all those years ago."

"I have to fart," Iggy whispered to me.

"If you do next to me, I will break your knee caps," I mumbled back.

"Point taken."

"Shhh," my sister shushed, which just got her the evil eye. Then I closed my eyes again, trying hard to concentrate on the 'spirit' Gasman had somehow conjured. As long as nothing enters my body though, I'm good.

"Spirit, what is it you wish for us to know? What can you tell us of that night?"

Peeking my eyes open, I tried to figure out who exactly it was that this 'spirit' had gone into. I expected one of the boys to start making a funny voice to fool Gasman, but none of them seemed to be saying anything, instead concentrated on the ghost. Oh, please, they can't honestly think that there's such a thing as ghosts…can they?

I was still looking around while listen to Gasman talk to the 'spirit' when I noticed this stone next to Fang wobbling a little bit. Frowning, I opened my eyes completely, staring hard at it.

"Spirit? Can you hear me?" Gazzy was yelling know. "Show me! Show yourself!"

As he yelled that, the rock suddenly became airborne. Fang, what with his six sense about these kind of things, dodged it. I, unfortunately, had a hard enough time mastering my five senses, and wasn't as lucky.

"Max," I heard one of them scream over Gasman's excited gasp, clearly enjoying the fact I had been hit by the rock. Then I blacked out.

* * *

**I know it's only been, like, a week since Island Time, but it feels like a lot longer. I've been so bored. Like, out of my mind bored. So I woke up this morning and this is what came of it. FYI though, I plan for characters deaths. I'm not sure who yet, but I want a lot of people to die in this one, to make up for the lack of them in Island Time. You've been forewarned. **


	2. Chapter 2

Forsaken

Chapter 2

Fang had heard a long time ago that the first thing an animal sees, it considers its mother or whatever. It must be the same thing with birds. Or at least that's how he explains it…

"Max?"

He had been walking out of the hut that Max was in, planning on going to the bathroom. Fang had spent the past two days by Max's side, whispering things to her, waiting impatiently for her to wake up. He had even tried to get Angel to go into Max's mind and find her, but Nudge was hard set against that, for fear that Angel would mess something up inside Max's head and she would never wake up. While they were duking it out about whether or not they should send Angel in there, the ten year old told them it didn't matter; she couldn't find Max in there anyways. It was almost like…she was gone.

So, Fang was finally gonna go get something to eat, leaving Dylan in charge of Max. That's when Max decided to open her eyes of course.

"You're awake," Dylan whispered to her as Fang rushed back into the hut. "Max, can you hear me? Max?"

"Nnngggmmm."

"My God, she can't talk," Dylan exclaimed to which Fang rolled he eyes. "Poor Max, you can't-"

"Max?" She mimicked back, staring at him.

"You're awake." Fang moved to her side, pushing Dylan away from the pallet she was on. "Max-"

"Hey!" She jumped back, moving away from Fang.

"What?"

She just stared at him for a moment before looking at Dylan, who was starting to move dejectedly out of the hut.

"Don't go!"

He turned his head, staring at her. "Me?"

"Where are you going?" She asked as he came closer again. Fang bit his tongue.

"You and Fang need to be-"

"Fang?"

"Yes," Fang answered. Max frowned, crinkling her nose. "That's me, Fang."

"Then who are you?" She asked Dylan.

"Oh, God, you don't remember?" Dylan shook his head. "I'm Dylan, Max."

Turning to Fang, she said, "Can you move? I want to talk to Dylan-Max."

"What?"

Dylan laughed, now taking his turn to shove Fang out of the way. "No, no. I'm Dylan. You're Max."

"Max." She said her name as if it were a new word. "Ma-ax."

"Yep."

Then she giggled, reaching out to touch Dylan's nose. "Dylan."

"Yep."

Next her nose got a touch. "Max."

"Mmmhmmm."

Fang, trying to be cute, bleh, and also wanting to get back in the conversation, moved to grab Max's hand and touch her finger to his nose, but the second his fingers wrapped around her slender wrist, Max screamed.

"What the fuck is going on in here?" Iggy stuck his head into the hut, Nudge right behind him. Max jerked out of Fang's grasp, moving closer to Dylan, forcing her way into his arms.

"She…Max is awake, but she doesn't…remember…I…Max…" Fang had never been at such a loss for words. What had he done? "Come here, Max."

"No!" She looked up at Dylan. "I don't like him."

"O-Okay." He patted her back awkwardly. Even when Max and Dylan had been together, they had never really been that close. It had been new and exciting for both of them. She definitely never went to him for comfort. "Uh, Fang? Can you-"

"No!" He jumped up. "Max, come here. Now!"

"Fang-" Nudge tried, but he was too pissed to care.

"I mean it, Max. Stop this! It's me. You know who I am. This isn't funny."

"Fang, she doesn't-"

"Shut up, Dylan. Now, Max."

Slowly, she stood up, staring at him with big eyes. Fang let out a slow breath. "She knows how to walk, she knows how to talk, how come she hasn't forgotten all that, huh? This is all a bunch of bull. Come here, Max."

"Fang, she has a head injur-"

"Follow me," he told her before shoving his way out of the hut. "Now."

"Wait," Dylan called, rushing after them. "Fang, you could mess something up. Head injuries are no joke."

"Oh, what do you know?"

"Enough."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"The do you know what I'm about to do with you if you don't shut the fuck up?"

Max closed her eyes, though her feet continued moving after Fang. "Stop. Stop it, Dylan. Stop it, Fang. Stop."

They both shut up after that, but kept walking to where Fang was leading them. When they got there, they were standing in front of Angel, who was playing with some of the younger kids that hadn't gotten to leave the island with their siblings and the scientist.

"Max!" Angel rushed to hug her. Max frowned down at her. "Max?"

"Angel, something's wrong with Max," Fang said as the little girl let the older teen go. Max quickly moved back towards Dylan for protection, making Fang grit his teeth.

"What?"

"She can't remember who we are. Can you go into her mind and-"

"Fang, I told you that she shouldn't do that before," Nudge said as she finally caught up. "You could mess something-"

"Would you just shut up?" Fang glanced at Max. "Do you remember her? Or anyone?"

"Will you stop yelling if I do?" She leaned in towards Dylan and Fang had to count to ten, something Max had suggested to him about a year ago, when he put it fist through one of the hut walls when Angel had pulled a prank on him and changed his body wash for some sort of goo mash fruit thing. What Max didn't get though, was that it was rare to leave the island and get things like body wash. What Angel had done was uncalled for and… God, he was getting worked up again.

"Max, I'm just…" He turned to look at her. "I, uh…don't…Are you hungry?"

"Hungry?"

He reached out and patted her stomach. "Are you hungry? Like…do you want to eat? I can get you food."

"No."

"Then…are you thirsty? You want water? I can get you that. Or, uh, do you want to sleep? Or something?"

"Fang, what if she has a concussion? Maybe she shouldn't sleep," Nudge said. He fought back any smart remarks and just nodded his head.

"Alright then, Max, what do you want to do?" He glanced at Nudge. "Unless you have an idea to help her remember?"

"Maybe we should just spend time with her," Nudge offered as Fang began to move away, not wanting this to all unfold in front of Angel's friends. Angel bid her friends goodbye before following them. "You know, help her get to know us. And, Fang, maybe…I'm not trying to make you mad, but…you shouldn't…yell…at her right now. She's not Max, she won't…yell back."

"I am Max," Max told them. "Right, Dylan? And Fang?"

Dylan just sighed. "Yeah, you're Max alright."

She giggled, leaning into him as they trailed behind Fang. "Dy-lan, Ma-ax, Fa-ang…" Then she poked Nudge's arm. "Hi."

"Hi."

"What's your name?"

"Nudge," she said, frowning a little bit.

"Okay." Max started again. "Dy-lan, Ma-ax, Fa-ang, Nu-udge…"

"Angel," the little girl said before Max had a chance to poke her. She was honestly scared of Max now. "My name's Angel."

Max nodded. "Dy-lan, Ma-ax, Fa-ang, Nu-udge, An-gel."

"Good job," Dylan told her, smiling. "Now do you remember us?"

"Nope." She reached down and grasped his hand. "Hey? Hey, Fang? Hey?"

"Yes?" He didn't turn around and look at her, not wanting to see his girlfriend all over stupid Dylan. "What do you want?"

"Where are we going?"

"I was going to get Iggy and Gasman."

"Who?"

He just shook his head. "Better yet, Nudge, Angel, you guys go find the others, okay? Ella too. Even Akila and Total. Anyone Max talks to on a regular basis. We'll be at our huts, alright?"

They both nodded before running off, leaving Fang with Max and Dylan. He sighed, glancing back at them.

"We're going to the Flock's hut," Fang specified to Dylan. "I don't think right now that being alone with me is what Max needs."

"Probably not," he agreed, making Fang give him the evil eye. Dylan found it best to shut up until they got the hut.

"Here, Max," Fang said, sitting her down on what was usually Angel's pallet. Max was instantly interested in the Celeste look-a-like Fang had picked up for Angel once when they were off the island.

"It's a bear."

"Oh, she remembers what a bear is, but not me?" Fang groaned, sitting down on the pallet next to hers, which was Nudge's. "Alright, Max, Nudge thinks we should tell you things about us, huh? I'll start."

"Okay," she said, picking up Celeste and putting it in her lap. "I'm ready."

He just stared at her for a moment. "You're my girlfriend."

"What does that mean?"

"That…we're, like, together and…you love me, Max."

"Oh." She seemed relieved. "What about you?"

Dylan hesitated, wanting to tell her all about how much he loved her and how they were meant to be together. Instead, he said, "We're friends."

"Oh. Friends." She snuggled Celeste to her. "Who is the little one? She's cute."

"Angel? She grew up with us in the School. Do you remember the School, Max?"

"Nope." She looked at Fang. "She's our friend?"

"Sort of, yeah. She's more than that, but…it's complex, I guess." He opened his wings, making Max's eyes go wide. "These are my wings. You have some too."

"Is that what those are? I can feel them."

"You can open them," he told her. "If you want."

"Yours are pretty," Max said, ignoring that as she reached forward to touch one of his wings. Fang closed his eyes as she stroked his feathers. "So soft. You're soft, Fang."

No, he was pretty hard…

Fang cleared his throat. "Uh, Max? You should- Ow."

She had pulled one of his feathers out, now moving back towards Dylan. Holding the feather up victoriously, she then asked Dylan, "Can I see your wings?"

"Not if you're going to do that, you can't."

Max just smiled, staring at the feather. "Black."

"What?"

"Your feather is black. You like black." She then frowned before looking up at Fang. "Huh? You like black."

"I do." He moved closer to her. "Oh, Max, you rememb-"

"What do I like?" She turned to look at Dylan. He scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, I don't really know. I guess you like blue or red or green or brown or something."

She looked at Fang. "What do I like?"

"Red."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"That's why you're my boyfriend. You know what I like. What else do I like?"

Fang moved to sit back down, letting out a soft sigh. "You like me."

"Fang," Dylan sighed. "You liked pizza, Max, before the world got so messed up."

"You loved cookies. Your mom's cookies," Fang mumbled, shaking his head.

"I have a mom?"

Nodding softly, he said, "Yeah. She's just off the island right now. She'll be back, promise."

"Do you have a mom?" Max asked. "Is she coming back?"

Fang started to mess with the blanket on Nudge's pallet. "I, uh…no. You and Ella are the only ones with a Mom. Ella's your sister."

"What happened to your mom?"

"I dunno. I never, uh, met her."

"Do you miss her?"

"Max…" Dylan whispered. "You shouldn't-"

"No, Max, I don't. You didn't miss yours either, before you got one. We didn't need them. We still don't. We've got each other. All of us has each other," Fang said, looking off again. "Besides, you've got a dad and he pretty much sucks."

"A dad?"

"Mmmhmm. His name is Jeb. He's a douche." Fang shook his head. "I'll, uh, talk about him later. Right now, I want you to focus on things we did together."

"Like what?"

"We kiss a lot."

"A lot?"

"Mmmhmm. All the time." Fang glanced at Dylan. "You don't have to be here for this."

"Yes, I think I do."

Max looked to Dylan. "Do we kiss?"

He almost choked, but that was okay; Fang answered for him.

"No, you don't."

"So I only kiss you?"

"Yes."

"Because you're my boyfriend."

"Right."

She closed her eyes tightly. When she opened them, she said, "Nope, don't remember."

Fang let out a sigh. "Well, alright. What about…uh…Do you remember Ari?"

"Ari. Nope." She held up Celeste. "Who's this?"

"It's Angel's teddy bear," Dylan told her. "Celeste."

"I like it."

"You have a stuffed animal," Fang said suddenly. "Hey, Dylan, go get it out of Max and my hut, alright? Maybe that'll make her remember."

"Why do I have a stuffed animal?" She asked, staring at Dylan as he left. "Where'd I get it? What's its name?"

"I got it for you about a year ago," he said as Dylan came back, the stuffed dog in his hands. "While we were off the island. We sleep with it every night." Then he stopped and chuckled softly. "Well, most every night."

Dylan cleared his throat. "Well, anyways, here it is, Max."

She took the stuffed pitbull from him. "What's his name?"

"Killer." Fang reached up and took it gently from her before rubbing its nose in her face, making her giggle. "You love him too. He's our baby."

She giggled. "That's cute."

"Yeah. Fang, real cute," Dylan said, staring at him. It was Fang's turn to clear his throat and sit up straight.

"Yes. Well then."

"Mmmhmm. Your baby, huh?"

"Our baby," Max corrected, taking him back. "Killer. Baby Killer."

"That's one thing to call him," Dylan mumbled as the others came into the hut.

"Hi," Max said, staring at them as they filed in. When she saw the two dogs though was when she got really excited. "Oh! Oh, Fang! Dylan! Dogs. Look. Like Killer. Hi. Hi, dogs."

"She really has lost it," Total said, as he went to go lie down on the pile of blankets in the corner that belong to him and his wife.

Max made a face. "Fang! Dylan!"

"What? What's wrong?" Dylan reached out to touch her arm. "Huh?"

"It talked."

"Oh lord," Total groaned. "She doesn't know that I can-"

"Come here, puppy," she said, pointing at Total. "Come here."

"Don't beckon me like I'm a dog."

"You are a dog." She looked to Angel, who was standing in the doorway and smiled. "Hi."

"Hi."

"I have a dog, like you have a bear."

"I know."

"Fang said it's our baby."

Iggy started laughing as he went over to his own pallet. "You said what, Fang?"

"Leave him alone," Nudge ordered, sitting down next to Fang. "Max? Are you feeling any better?"

She handed Celeste to Angel, though she kept Killer in her arms. "Fang said that we kiss a lot."

"Ew." Gazzy went over to his pile of blankets and laid down. "Hey, guys, since Max got hurt by getting hit in the head, maybe Fang should punch or something."

"I'm not hitting her," Fang said, offended.

"Then drop her on her head," he suggested. "That would work, probably. Or throw a rock at her."

Max made a weird moaning noise that probably only Fang had ever heard before. It made him sad, her sounding so down and upset…it also kind of made him remember that Max had made a promise to him a two days ago, that if he sat through that dumb séance that she would reward him. Man, was he looking forward to that reward. After all this though, he figured he could probably get Max to go for the bondage thing…if she ever snapped out of her confusion…

"You shut up," Fang told him. "If it wasn't for your stupid trick-"

"It wasn't a trick, Fang."

"Oh, yes it was. You were trying to hit me with that rock-"

"I was not. I didn't even touch the rock! It was the ghost."

"For the last freaking time, Gasman," Iggy blurted out. "There is no such thing as ghosts! You're the one who hurt Max, doing some stupid stunt to scare everyone, and now that she's lost her memory, you don't want to fess up to it. Well guess what, Gazzy; you're the reason that Max can't remember anything. You, no one else."

"I hate you, Iggy! And you, Fang! Why do you have to be so mean? I'm trying to help!"

"Help by admitting what you did," Dylan said softly. "No one's mad at you, Gazzy. We all know that you did it to freak us out. We'll just be happier with you if you fess up. We're not going to yell at you."

"I didn't do it!"

"Oh, boy, you act like such a child," Iggy complained. "You're twelve now. Stop acting like a little kid."

"I didn't do it! I'm telling you-"

"Shut up," Fang growled, now also fed up. "You stupid, little-"

"Y'all stop it," Nudge said. "You're making Max upset."

Glancing at his girlfriend, Fang found that she was clutching Killer tightly to her chest while staring hard at Gasman. Slowly, she got up and went over to the preteen.

"Why are you they so mean to you?" Max asked gently as she sat down next to him. She offered him Killer, but Gazzy shook his head no.

"Because they think that I'm just a stupid little boy, but I'm not! I'm just as strong as you guys! Just 'cause you're older and bigger don't mean nothing. Fight me then! Huh? Huh? Bet you won't."

"Oh, shut up." Iggy lounged out on his bed. "If arguing with each other doesn't jog Max's memory, I don't know what will."

Max snuggled Killer's muzzle to Gasman's face like Fang had her. "You're so cute. What's your name?"

He sniffled a little bit, making Fang roll his eyes. "The Gasman."

"That's cute." She patted him on the head. "Don't be mean to him, Dylan."

"I'm not. I'm just saying-"

"Well, don't. You either, Fang." Then she leaned over and poked Iggy in the chest. "Or you. Who are you?"

"Me? I'm the guy that's going to get ticked off if you poke me again."

She made a face. "What?"

"His name's Iggy and he needs to drop the attitude," Nudge said. "All of you do."

"What happened to Ella?" Dylan asked.

"She's coming; she just had to take care of something first. I didn't ask what."

Fang just shook his head. "That's fine. Max, come back over here."

"No," she said, still messing with Gazzy's hair. "Say sorry."

"To who? You?"

"No. The," she giggled, "Gasman."

Gazzy's face showed his pride. "She likes me best."

That is, until Akila came over to Max. Smiling, Max began to stroke the dog's fur.

"Hi," she whispered, scratching behind Akila's ears. Total watched with caution, not wanting Max to hurt his wife. She seemed to be being very gently however, so he allowed what she was doing to continue.

"That's Akila," Dylan told her softly. "She's Total's wife."

"Total?"

"That's Total," he said, pointing over at the dog in the corner. "He's Angel's friend."

"Like we're friends."

"Something like that," Iggy mumbled. "Hey, Max, we're supposed to be telling you about things to jog your memory, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Iggy," Nudge whispered a soft warning.

"No, no, I'm seriously trying to help." He sat up slightly. "Do you remember when you caught me and Ella making out in you and Fang's hut? About eight months ago? And you flipped out?"

"You were what?" Fang glared at him.

"It's not fair that only you and Max have your own place."

"Max and I built it all on our own. We found our own wood, own nails and never asked anyone for help. You're very welcome to do the same."

"That sounds like a lot of work for the _blind_, Fang."

"Yeah, well, if I ever catch you in there, I'll slit your throat."

Max put her hands over Killer's ears. "Fang."

He let out a slow breath. "So I guess that was a no? You don't remember that?"

"Nope." She smiled when Akila licked her face. "Who is Ella, Iggy?"

"Ella is your sister. Your half-sister." He shook his head. "Biggest jezebel in all the lands."

"She showed Fang her…" Gazzy stopped to giggle. "Boobies."

"What?"

"Gasman, you're so about to get it!"

"I'm trying to help, Fang! God. That could have helped her remember, don't you think? I think so."

He just shook his head. "Angel, why don't you try?"

"Um…This one time, Max, when we still lived in Colorado, we went to pick berries, but then Ari came and stole me. That was pretty bad. Do you remember that?"

"Nah-ah." She smiled over at Angel. "You're cute too. Angel, huh?"

"Yes."

Nudge sighed slightly. "Maybe this wasn't the best of ideas."

"We have to do something," Dylan reasoned. "Max, you wanna walk around the island a little bit? See if you recall anything?"

"Sure," she said, standing up. Fang moved to get up, but she went straight over to Dylan. "Come on, Dylan."

He jumped up and went with her. Fang quickly dismissed the others before following them. He was barely out of the hut when Ella ran up to him.

"Not now, alright?"

"No, it's serious," she said, blocking his path. "I finally got through to Mom on the radio. Come on, you should come talk to her."

As Fang headed off to the labs, he could see Dylan and Max in the distance and had to fight the part of himself that wanted to go over there and keep them apart.

What the heck was going on? Dylan…over him? Even if Max's memory was gone, her eyesight sure wasn't! God.


	3. Chapter 3

Forsaken

Chapter 3

"She what?"

Fang sighed loudly. "Well, it's not like we planned it, Dr. Martinez."

"How did she do this?"

"Uh…Gasman wanted to…uh…"

"Fang? I can't hear you. You're breaking up."

No, he was just trying to find the words. Sighing a little bit, he leaned against the counter behind him, holding the receiver in his hand.

"Gazzy wanted to hold a séance and somehow he got a rock to move and it hit Max in the head. She passed out for a few days, but when she woke up, she didn't remember who we were."

The vet paused. "Brain damage in a serious thing."

"So you're coming back?"

"No, Fang, I can't. We're in the middle of negotiations-"

"Max could be dying!"

"Calm down. It is not like you to yell. Are you okay?"

"Moody as ever," Ella mumbled across the room, making Fang frown at her.

"I'm just, um, worried about Max…she's…been…"

"You're breaking up again."

Clearing his throat, Fang said, "When Max woke up, she, like, imprinted on Dylan or something."

"She what?"

"Not in a bad way. Well, yeah, in a real bad way, but not in, like, a sex way or-"

"Fang?" Suddenly it was Jeb's voice that was coming through the radio and not Dr. Martinez's. "No need to worry about that."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, boy."

He hated that. This past year, since Fang and Max had begun to get even more serious, Jeb had suddenly decided the only way to demean Fang was to refer to him in childish ways. Boy, son, kid, buddy, pal. It made him want to vomit, but Max had been giving Jeb more freedom and told him to just leave Jeb be. Bleh.

"Think about what?"

"Max is, when stripped down-"

"You better not be-"

"-attracted to Dylan."

"What?"

"Fang, the whole reason she's with you is because of your shared past. If you had just turned up into Max's life at the same time as Dylan, she would have easily picked him over you."

"How do you figure?"

"Dylan was made to appeal to Max. Well, the original Dylan, but that's beyond us now. If you take away all the emotion, she would probably be mating with him and not-"

"Jeb!"

"Valencia, you know as well as I do that that hut was not built so that Max and Fang could catch up on their sleep. You're the one that approved of- Hey!"

Suddenly, Jeb's voice was in the distance and all Fang could hear was his girlfriend's mother.

"I'm honestly not concerned with your love triangle as of current, Fang."

"It's not a love triangle! Max is just naive about-"

"What do you mean?"

"She doesn't know anything," Fang told the doctor. "Like, she's just…an airhead."

"It must have to do with her amnesia."

Fang scratched the back of his head, acutely aware of the fact that Ella was still watching him.

"What can we do?"

"Well, first you need to tell Gazzy that throwing things at people is very dangerous. Next, you need to keep Max in your line of sight at all times. I don't want her hurting herself. I will get there as soon as possible, Fang."

"Alright. I can-"

"Oh, and Fang?"

"Yes?"

"I understand that you guys are, well, a bunch of guys, but don't think that hitting her again will cure anything."

He wasn't sure to be offended that she really thought he would hit Max or be thankful that they finally had some guidance in rather or not to imitate the injury. At least now he could tell the others that that idea was definitely a no go.

* * *

"So how come he yells so much?"

"Fang?" Dylan kept peeling the orange, not looking up. "I dunno. He always does that now. Since we got to this island, he's-"

"How come we live on an island? I thought people lived in houses?"

"Normal ones do, yeah," Dylan said, handing her an orange slice. "Well, they did. Before the huge…disaster."

He was expecting Max to question him one what exactly that was, but she was just as quickly distracted as she looked out over the ocean. They were seated on a cliff, overlooking the waves as they crashed into the island. Dylan smiled a little, watching her as she watched the water move across the land. Max was so beautiful…

"I like it here."

"Hmmm?"

"Up here, with you. It's so quiet. They're all so loud."

"Oh, it's usually loud up here too, when everyone's here at the island. Right now, your mom and Jeb took most of the other kids inland on the ship."

"How come?"

"She's going to speak to some people in what used to be Europe."

"How come we didn't go?"

"You wanted to stay behind. You don't like to leave the island much these days."

"Why not?"

"I dunno." He gave her another piece of fruit. "I think you and Fang had plans or something while the others are out."

"Oh. He's cute, Fang."

"Fang's cute?" Dylan had a hard time understanding that. Especially considering all he had done since Max woke up was complain. "How?"

"I dunno. He just is. Like the Gasman." She giggled. "I like him too. And Angel. And Nudge. Not Iggy though. He seems really, really mean."

"He's just stressed, Max. That's all. We all are."

"How are we all related again?"

"Well, none of us really are except for Gazzy and Angel. Then you and Ella are half-sisters."

"Then why are we all together?"

He stared out at the water for a moment, weighing his options. If he told Max about how they were meant to be together with her fragile state, Fang would kill him. No, really, he would kill him. Probably torture him first too. So, Dylan went with the safe approach.

"The people that gave you guys wings, they kept all of you in cages together when you were kids."

"What about you?"

"Me?"

She nodded.

"I, uh, got added on late. I kind of needed a home and you gave me one. You can be kind sometimes."

Max looked up at the sky. "Look. Fang."

Looking in the direction she was, Dylan found a black blob moving towards them. Great. "He's probably worried about us being alone."

"How come?"

Dylan sighed a little. "Fang's pretty…weird."

"What do you mean?"

"He just…you'll learn. If you don't remember, I mean," Dylan said hurriedly as Fang landed.

"I've been looking for you everywhere," the black winged teen raved. "You were supposed to be showing her the island, Dylan."

"I was," the other boy defended. "Then Max kind of got hungry, so-"

"Then you should have come and told m-"

"Hi, you."

He frowned, glancing at Max. "Hi. But, Dylan, you have to-"

"Can I have another feather?" Max asked, staring up at Fang. "Dylan showed me his wings. They're brown. I don't like them as much as yours."

"Well…no. You can't. Max, it hurts when you pull out one of my feathers."

"Hmmm." She grabbed one of the pieces of fruit that Dylan had sitting between her and Dylan. "Here, Fang! I saved you some."

"Thanks, but-"

"Sit with me." Max patted the ground. "Dylan was telling me about things. He talks a lot."

Dylan scowled. "I do not."

Slowly, Fang sat down on the ground with his girlfriend. She quickly handed the banana to Fang.

"I made sure to get you this because you're my boyfriend and I love you."

"What?"

"That's what you said. You're my boyfriend and I love you." She poked his arm. "You like bananas."

"How do you…Do you remember that?" He turned to look at her as Dylan moved closer. "Max?"

Frowning, she looked away from both of them, back at the ocean. Her head hurt. "The water's pretty, Fang."

"Max, I asked you some-"

"I should fly too!" Suddenly, she sprang up, opening her brown and white wings. For a second she looked at them in shock and amazement. Then she looked at Dylan. "Fang's eating. Let's go flying."

"Max, wait," Fang said, quickly standing too. "What if you don't remember how to-"

"Come on!' She rushed off the edge of the cliff, jumping over it's ledge. Fang and Dylan both tried taking off in that small space, their wings crashing into each other and screwing things up. Fang was cursing and shoving Dylan away, knowing that now it was too late to catch Max if she had fallen. When he looked up though, Max was in the air, flying away from them.

"Go after her," Fang growled at Dylan as they both finally were able to get into the air. Max's wings, which were built for speed whether she was using super speed or not, out bested her two male counterparts, but Fang's beckoning finally made her do a huge u-turn in the air and come back to them.

"Fang," she complained as he and Dylan finally caught up. "You didn't eat your food. Aren't you hungry?" She then patted her stomach to show Fang what she meant, like what he had done before. "And hey, how come your wings are bigger than mine? That's not fair."

Fang just stared at her for a moment, too angry to speak. "Land, Max."

"Huh?"

"Now!"

"Fang-"

"Shut up, Dylan. Land, Max. I mean it."

She looked to Dylan, noticing that their wings beat at the same pace. They were both calm. Why was Fang so frantic? Why was he yelling at her? What had she done wrong? When Dylan nodded, she moved to land on the beach, Dylan following.

"What did I do?" She asked Dylan as Fang slowly followed. "Why is he yelling?"

"I told you, Max; Fang is weird."

When Fang finally landed, his anger had subsided slightly, but only after counting to ten…five times.

"Alright, Max, there are rules to the way we're going to do things, okay? You can't run off and you can't just jump off of things like that. You're to be with me at all times. And if you're not with me, you're going to stay where I tell you or with who I tell you."

"It's actually whom," Dylan said, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work. Max let out that weird moaning noise again, sniffling a little bit. "Fang, you made her cry."

"I…uh…Max…"

"I didn't mean to make you mad." She wrapped her arms around Dylan, shocking both boys. Dylan awkwardly patted her on the back, wanting to comfort Max, but also wanting to avoid angering her boyfriend.

"Well, don't cry about it."

She buried her head in Dylan's chest, sniffling. It was Dylan's turn to get angry.

"How dare you upset her this much, Fang. Look, she doesn't know things, okay? She's, like, a kid. Talk to her like you would Angel or someone. You wouldn't yell at her like this."

"I would if she did something that dumb."

"Max didn't know it was dumb though."

"Look, Mr. Perfection, she needs me, not you, so just screw off." Fang came closer, shoving Dylan back in an attempt to separate him from Max.

"Stop it!" Max shoved Fang then, though it did no good. It was kind of cute, actually. "You're mean. You yelled at the cute, little boy, Gasman and now you're yelling at Dylan. Stop. It's not nice."

Taking a deep breath, Fang let it out slowly through his nostrils. When he got his bearings, he said, "Fine. I won't yell at you anymore, Max, but you do not run away from me. This isn't a game, alright? I don't want you to end up hurt. Okay?"

She smiled a little bit. "Tell Dylan sorry."

"That's really not-" Dylan tried, not wanting further his problems.

"I'm not going to-"

"Say it, Fang."

Another deep breath was involved before Fang was able to spit out the word, "Sorry."

Just like that, Max was away from Dylan and onto Fang, hugging him.

"Wha-"

"Good job, Fang. You're getting so much nicer." She hugged him tightly. "Did you want your banana now?"

Oh, he wanted something way different than a banana….

Clearing his throat, Fang gently pushed Max back. "No. I do, however, want you to know that you can't run off again."

"Okay."

Fang reached out and gently patted her on the head. "Come on then. I'll show you around the island this time. Just the two of us."

"But…what about Dylan?"

"Dylan is going to go do something else. I want to be alone with you for-"

"I can't condone that," Dylan spoke up. "I mean, you've already made her cry. I'm not going to let you-"

"I don't remember asking you what you thought, Dylan," Fang said, pulling Max's arm so that she was standing next to him. "Quite honestly, I couldn't care less what you think. At all."

"You-"

"Come on, Max." He began to pull her along, ignoring her questions. "Screw off, Dylan. I mean it."

He expected the other teen to put up more of a fight, but when he didn't, Fang decided that it was because of the overpowering force that Fang exerted onto others. After about a minute, Max also calmed down and stopped talking a much.

"Fang?"

"Hmmm?"

She moved to walk next to him. "What do I like about you?"

Way to be blunt, Max.

"Well…uh…we understand each other well. And we like each other. A lot. And we both like making out with the other…and other things."

"Like wh-"

"Oh, and you like it when we're about to go to bed and you're not tired yet, I sometimes tell you stories."

"Like what?"

He laughed a little bit under his breath. "You like for me to pretend like Killer is real and tell little kid fairy tales, like something with a wolf or witch or something."

"Killer. Our baby."

"That's right. You like it too when I lay him on my chest and sleep like that, like he really is a baby." Fang took a deep breath for a moment. "We, uh, we've talked about it, you know."

"Killer?"

"Huh? Oh, no, Max. No…silly." He was trying to be lighthearted, like Dylan, and win her over. They were now walking along the beach, headed for the caves and Fang didn't want to upset her for fear that she would run into the water. Sure, she had gills, but it would still be a mess, finding her again.

"Then what?"

"Us, you know, having a…baby. Not a lot."

"Not a lot of a baby?"

He was having a hard time keeping his tone even. "No, Max. We haven't talked about it a lot. Mostly because…only one person has had a baby on the island and it was a mess."

"The b-"

"The delivery. There was so much blood, your mom had to deliver it, they thought they were going to lose it." Fang looked off for a moment. "They're not even together anymore, the two that had it. Tyson and Kira. She's creepy as crap. I'd never break it off with her."

"Where's their baby?"

"They went with your mom, on that ship, Kira and the baby. Tyson's here, but that's only because he's been sniffing around Nudge." Fang shook his head. "That's not happening."

"Nudge. Nu-udge."

"Why do you do that?"

"I dunno. To remember. I don't want to forget you guys' names after you've been so nice to me today." Max giggled when she tripped over a rock, barely catching herself. "I wish I could remember, Fang, to make you less angry. I can't though. Maybe I can do something else…?"

He frowned at the way she was looking at him. Oh lord. "What?"

"I dunno. Maybe I can learn a cool trick in the air and show it to you."

Blinking, he realized that Max probably didn't understand sex, so his hope for her usual ways of taking away his tension were out. He could always teach her, but that turns into all the problems the others will have with that. Of course, it's really no one's business. Max is Fang's girlfriend, right? And if she agrees to do it, who could stop her?

"Like what?"

"I could do a back flip!"

"You have a very selective memory, Max. How do you know what a back flip is, but not me?" He was starting to feel less important in her life. "Anyways, no, you can't. I told you no more flying without me."

She groaned. "I don't like your…what are they?"

"Rules."

"Yeah. I don't like your rules. I don't think that you want me to have any fun."

"I want you to have plenty of fun, Max. Safe, good-natured, clean fun with me. If you want to play a game, sure. You wanna race? Alright. Swim? Fine. But running off on your own isn't a good idea. You're just too dumb right n- Oh, don't cry."

"You called me dumb!" She crossed her arms as she ceased her walking. "That's why I want to be with Dylan, not you. You're very mean to me. You're very mean to everyone! I would never call you dumb!"

"Max, I didn't-"

"I'm not dumb!"

"Okay, okay. You just…you don't remember and that's made you…naïve. That's the word. Naïve. Not dumb. Never dumb. You're very smart. Very, very smart." He turned to face her. "You…wanna hug or something?"

"What?"

"That's what you did before, when I said sorry." Fang shrugged his shoulders, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm not much of a hugger anyways, so it's water off my back."

"What?"

"It's a saying."

"Oh. You're very smart, Fang. Not dumb." She stared at him for a moment before saying, "Okay, I wanna play."

"Play?"

"You said we could play games. I wanna play a game."

"What kind of a game?"

"Mmmm, I dunno. Can the others play? The cute, little ones? And Nudge? And Dylan? Not the mean one though. He's very grouchy."

"You mean Iggy?" Fang shook his head. He'd die when he hears that out of everyone, Max thinks he's mean.

"Yeah. I don't like him. He made the Gasman cry. That's not nice. He's a lot bigger than him." She glanced up at him. "Like you are me. So don't yell at me anymore either, Fang."

"I won't. It's just…that's usually how we solve things."

"Really?"

He nodded as they began to walk again, now headed to the huts in hopes of finding their Flock members there.

"We just yell at each other or, well, ignore each other for a long time."

"What's the longest we've ever gone?"

Taking a deep breath, Fang said, "Probably when I left with my own group, back before the world got messed up."

"You did that? You left me?"

"Yeah. That was the last time though. I won't again."

"You have before?"

He just nodded, not looking at her.

"But…you said that I was you are my boyfriend."

"I am."

"And I love you."

"You do."

"Then…don't you love me?"

"More than life."

"Then I must really be dumb because I don't get it." She looked out passed Fang, at the waves.

"No, you're not dumb. I am. It's my fault, leaving you. It won't happen again and that's all that matter." Fang, who had been walking with his wings out, finally closed them. "I don't like to dwell in the past much, Max. Neither do you."

"How come?"

"There's, uh, a lot of death and things in our past."

She glanced at him. "Like who?"

Swallowing, Fang decided that talking about Maya right now wasn't such a good idea, so he stayed on the safe side and said, "Your half-brother, Ari, he's dead. For now."

"For now?"

"He has a habit of just…popping back up. I don't think that he will again, but…it's kind of creepy. If he was Jesus, this would be the 8th coming, probably."

"What?"

"Nothing," Fang said with a shake of his head. "The point is, we just find it better to focus on the now."

"What is now? Going on now, I mean."

"Well, we're pretty dang serious about our relationship, but recently you've had to leave the island a lot, to deal with things in Europe. That's where most people are; there and Asia."

"I don't know where those places are."

Fang laughed a little bit, but Max couldn't figure out why. "It's okay. You'll remember soon."

She sighed again. "When I remember again, if I ever do, will I remember all of this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Every thing that's happened so far?"

"I dunno. I don't know a lot about the brain and how it works," Fang said with a shrug of his shoulders. His shoulders had been bothering him a lot recently, but Max was no longer there to give him a massage. Well, she was, but he didn't want her messing with his back, considering she seemed to have a tendency to just break down for no reason. Normal Max was enough emotion for him to deal with, thanks.

Max wrapped her arms around herself. "What game are we gonna play?"

"Dunno. Guess we'll find out soon." Fang sniffled a little bit; his nose had been clogged up recently. Usually Max made sure that he took some sort of weird combination of pills from the lab that cleared it right up, but now…he'd just have to suffer through his boogers. "I guess I should keep talking to you, huh? About the past?"

"What else is there?"

"A lot, Max. Gozen, Anne Walker, Brigid, The Director, Uber-director, Mr. Chu, my immortality, the way you kissed me when you thought I was dying, the time we really thought Angel was dead, things we used to do at the E-Shaped house-"

"You talk a lot."

Fang stopped for a moment before laughing again. That was probably the first time he had ever heard that and, honestly, he wanted it to be the last. "Alright then. We can be quiet for a little while."

"Good." She smiled at him and Fang allowed himself to smirk a little, not wanting to upset her anymore.

* * *

The next big problem didn't come until nightfall. Everyone had eaten dinner in the Flock's hut, but when it was time for bed, Max didn't seem to get that they had to leave.

"What are you doing?" Dylan asked as she laid down on his pallet. It had been a big deal, back when Fang and Max still lived in the hut with the Flock, that Dylan wanted to stay in there too. Max immediately agreed, but Fang denied him access for the longest time. Eventually, one night when it was pouring down rain and the caves were all full, Fang conceded. It was supposed to only be that one time, but everyone knows that there's no such thing as just one time.

"This isn't where I sleep?"

"No," Fang said, shaking his head. "You know that me and you have our own hut."

"Yuck," Gazzy said, to which Iggy nodded. Nudge, who was already mostly asleep, just sighed, wishing that they would all shut up.

"But…I wanna stay with them. And Dylan. And the dogs." Max looked up at Fang, confused. "Why can't I stay in here?"

"You can," Dylan said. "I'll go get your blankets and-"

"No." Fang stood up from the spot against the wall he had been sitting in. "Come on, Max. Now."

"Fang-" Angel tried, but he immediately shushed her, reaching down to force Max up.

"It's probably best anyways," Nudge said. "Maybe sleeping in her own bed will help jog her memory somehow."

Dylan frowned. "Fang, don't upset her."

"You shut up." He made Max say goodnight before leading her next door to their place. He could tell that she was sad, but he didn't really care. Next to getting Max's amnesia to go away, keeping her away from Dylan was top priority.

"There's only one bed."

"It's just a bunch of blankets anyways." Fang pulled off his shirt. "If you want, I can divide them up, but-"

"Killer sleeps here?" She laid him down in the center of the pile. "Right?"

"Right." He started to drop his jeans, but then stilled. "Hey, Max, I, uh, usually sleep in my boxers, but-"

"Boxers?"

"My underwear."

"Oh." She didn't seem that concerned, so Fang dropped his jeans like he planned, kicking them into the corner of the hut. He stared at her for a moment as she sat there on her hands and knees, her face in the stuffed dog's, staring into his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing." She glanced up at Fang and he had to close his eyes, ignoring the fact that he really hated her at the moment, for losing her memory right before his reward. "What do I sleep in?"

"Uh, it depends."

"What do you mean?"

Scratching the back of his head, he said, "On how hot it is. Are you hot?"

"No."

"Then here." He grabbed his fallen shirt. "Take off your bra and shirt then put mine on."

"What's a bra?"

Oh God.

After he finally finished that, Fang was worried that he would have to explain why it was okay for her to sleep in just her panties on her bottom half, but Max didn't seem to be concerned with Fang seeing her. She had even taken off her bra while facing him, which had taken a long time for her to do in the first place. This Max though, naïve as she was, also seemed to be without nerves, which was nice. Fang didn't realize just how nerveless she was until they had both laid down to sleep, Killer between them.

"G'night, M- Max!"

Fang had been laying on his back, his wings let out slightly as he stared up at the ceiling. Max had shocked him, however, by jumping him. No, literally. She had sprung on top of him, holding down his shoulders with her hands.

"What are you doing?"

"You're my boyfriend," she said as if he were the dense one. "Right?"

"Right," Fang whispered. What did that mean? Did it mean what he thought it meant? Oh, God, he hoped so.

"So we kiss, right?"

Oh. That.

"Right," he said, trying to hide his disappointment. "We do."

"Then we should." She leaned over his face, her hair tickling his nose as she kissed his cheek gently. Fang almost groaned out of frustration, but held it down. He couldn't think of a time that Max had _ever_ kissed his cheek. Ever. She had slapped his cheek one or twice and punched it even more, but a kiss was not normal. Though what had been normal this day?

"There." Then she was off him, moving back to the other side of Killer, who got a kiss too, though his was on the nose, which made Max giggle. "Now you have to kiss me."

Oh, he wanted to do so much more than that, but he instead he humored her by leaning over and pressing two quick kisses to her head and cheek. Then, when prompted, he lowered his head and kissed Killer, though it didn't get a laugh.

"Good night, Fang."

He hadn't known how tired he was until right then. He did, however, remember that Iggy had suggested that he rouse Max ever few hours to make sure everything was okay, what with her head injury. He just hoped he remembered.

"G'night." He let out a slow breath. "Oh, and one more thing."

"What?"

"If you pull one of my feathers out while I'm asleep, you'll be in big trouble."

That just got a giggle.


	4. Chapter 4

Forsaken

Chapter 4

When Fang first opened his eyes, he forgot for a second what was going on and where he was. He just laid there for a moment, staring up lazily at the roof of their little hut, trying to remember his previous day. Smacking loudly, he turned to his left to check on Max, but for some reason he came face to face with a pair of fake eyes.

"Ah!" Shooting up, Fang moved to get out of the hut. Then he realized that it was just Killer, who for some reason had been turned around to face him. Stilling his breath, he looked around for Max, but found that she had already gotten up.

"Well, shit," he complained, getting out of the hut. He always slept near the door so that if someone tried to get in to attack them, they'd have to go through him first. Now, Fang thought that it would serve to keep Max from sneaking out, but apparently not.

"Max," he called as he walked out into the sun. Blinking heavily, he looked around for her before giving up and heading to the Flock's hut. Everyone was gone out of there too! What the heck? Growling, Fang turned sharply on his heels, now headed to the beach.

"What's the big idea?" Dylan complained five minutes later as Fang finally located Max, who was playing tag with the Flock. Of course, the second he found them, Fang had to shove Dylan down. Of course.

"Where do you get off, Dylan? Huh? Taking her without-"

"She wanted to play a game and said that you were still sleeping. She came into our hut, not the other way around!" Dylan jumped up. "You're the one that couldn't keep an eye on her! God, Fang, she could have wandered into the ocean or something. This is your fault, not mine."

The teen with black wings balled his fists at his side. "You stupid, little-"

"Tag. You're it."

Frowning, Fang turned to his side to see that Max was standing there, smiling at him. "What?"

"I was it." Then she poked him, which seemed to be her favorite form of contact. "Now you're it. Don't you know how to play? I do. I remember."

He just stared for a moment. "I'm not playing, Max."

"You should. It'll make you happy." She poked him again. "Did you see Killer?"

"Yeah." He rolled his shoulders, looking around to see that the rest of the Flock was staring at them. Total, who was resting on the ground like usual, had even picked his head up to see this, probably wanting to see if Fang and Dylan would fight.

She giggled. "He's your son. He was waiting for you to wake up."

Fang bit his tongue for a moment, trying to think of something to say. He wanted to tear into Dylan, but knew that that was now out of the question. Taking a deep breath, he instead changed his tactics.

"You guys should be doing your duties," he told them, ignoring the snickers that got from Gazzy. "I mean it. The reason that we all stayed behind this time was-"

"So that you could bone Max, we know," Iggy said, which got him wasted looks from multiple people. It wouldn't have mattered to him if he could see them. He had wanted to go out on the boat, but stupid Max hadn't let him. He had wanted to hangout with his friend Gage the other night, but Max made him go on that stupid monster hunt. He was so tired of doing what everyone else wanted, namely Max. Has he mentioned Max?

"Bone?" Max asked, ceasing her running. Why wouldn't they play tag with her? Fang ruins everything. She was about to go over and tell him this, but then he started talk.

"Shut up, Iggy."

"No, you shut up. God, Fang, you're the one that didn't wake up, alright?"

"You-"

"No one's mad about it, Fang," Dylan whispered softly. "We know that you've been staying up, with her while she was passed out. It's okay that you slept, now that she's alright."

He wanted to tell them that she wasn't alright, that she wouldn't be alright again until she was her again, not this…thing before them.

"Am I in trouble?" Max asked, coming to stand next to Dylan. Gasman coughed a little bit, kicking up the sand. Max? In trouble? She seemed more of the one that hands down punishment when someone else is in trouble. Mostly him, if they were all being honest.

"No," Dylan told her, but still she looked to Fang. He just put off an aurora of being in charge and even Max, in her dubious to everything state, picked up on that.

Fang ignored her though, instead addressing the Flock as a whole again. "You're all to get back to work. Not play with Max. She's my responsibility."

"You make her sound like a dog," Nudge said with evident disdain.

"Okay, I take offense," Total finally spoke up. "Do not compare me to her."

Max giggled. "He's funny, Fang. I like him."

Her boyfriend just sighed loudly. "Get gone, guys."

After telling Max goodbye, Gasman ran off first, before anyone had a chance to remember that he hadn't been assigned duty that week, not as of yet at least. And there was no way he planned on letting someone figure that out.

"Where you going, Gasdude?"

"Gasman," he corrected, coming to a full stop in front of Nudge's boyfriend, who was lying on a hammock, smoking something. A lot of the other kids smoked certain plants around the island, but getting caught by Max or Fang doing it was definite death for a younger kid. Sure, Gazzy was starting to get up there in years, but he had yet to test this boundary. Besides, he'd seen the older kids high plenty of times. It didn't seem like much fun. Now that whole sex thing they got to do…well…so…yeah.

"It's a nickname, bro," he said, blowing his smoke away from the younger teen. "Where ya headed, little bro?"

He wasn't his 'little bro'. He wasn't even his big bro! Or regularly sized bro! God.

"Nowhere. Why?"

"I was kinda wonderin' if ya wanted to go investigate that cave a little bit more." David took a deep drag, holding in his breath for as long as he could before letting it out when it began to burn. "Hold another séance."

"Why?"

"I dunno. You were talking about it, huh? When Max first got it? Ask the ghost or ghostess to wake her up. Well, now she needs her, uh, what's the world, little bro?"

"Memory?"

"Yeah!" He took a short puff this time. "She needs her memory back. We should go ask for it."

Gazzy frowned. All of the other kids didn't take him seriously, they honestly thought that he had figured out how to levitate a rock. No offense to them or anything, but if he had suddenly gotten that power, he'd be doing _way_ more important things that hurting Max. Way more fun too.

"You actually believe in the ghost?" He asked the stoner.

"'course! Why else would I be so unconcerned with Max?" David smiled sleepily at Gasman. "Me and her are very close."

"What?" The Gasman wasn't sure, but from what he could tell, Max didn't seem to like David that much. "You and Max are friends?"

"The best. Through thick and thin and all that shit." The older teen's eyes slipped shut and he started laughing slightly. "Oh, Gasdude, we'll get her memory back. Betcha." Then for some reason, he sat straight up, opened his eyes again, and stared into Gasman's. "Even if it kills us."

* * *

"There you are."

Iggy groaned as someone began to stroke his head. Unlike Fang, who only used razors on the places Max, erm, specified, Iggy only used his on his head, which he now liked to keep shaved down completely. He even dealt with those nasty ingrown hairs that he got on occasion.

"Here I am," he whispered back to the other teen. "I've been looking for you."

"Have you now?" She leaned down to kiss his head. "Let me guess? I was hiding in your dreams?"

"No," he said slowly, refusing to smile no matter how much he wanted to. "I couldn't find you, so I fell asleep."

"Looks like I'm the one who found you, huh?" She began to stroke the back of his neck. "Roll over so I can look at that amazing facial hair you've got going."

"You like?"

"I love."

Iggy rolled onto his back, sighing when he felt the weight of her hand on his chest. "Spend your time with me carefully."

"Why?" She shifted to lie against him, tossing on arm around his neck. It had been hard to get accustom to having a blind boyfriend, if only because she constantly had to be the one to initiate contact. Of course though, it also had its advantages. They say that losing one sense makes the others stronger and damn if his sense of touch wasn't freaking amazing.

"Fang's been on the look out for any slackers. He and Max have been making their rounds-"

"Max is better?"

"Nope," Iggy said, reaching up to find her head and press it to his chest. "But she's been following Fang around like a puppy since he finally got up."

"Got up or got it up?"

Iggy snorted. "He wishes. Fang's such a horn dog these days that it's nasty."

"Like the Princess and the Frog. Only instead of a frog, he's a horny toad."

Iggy smiled a little bit. "I just hope that she remembers soon because this Max is worse than the other one."

"I've always liked Max."

"You like Ella," he said dismissively. "If that doesn't show your lack of good character judgment-"

"You dated her."

"And I realized the era of my ways."

"I think you mean error."

"I think you should shut up."

"I think I know why she broke up with you."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"And it had nothing to do with my super hot best friend always hanging around?"

"What would Dylan have to do with anything?"

He made a face. "You really know how to annoy me, Gage."

"I try."

* * *

"Fang? Can I have a dog of my own? Like a real dog? I love Killer, but I want a dog that will actually talk back to me. Like Total." Max smiled then. "Do you think that Angel will trade me Killer for Total? Then I can be Total's mommy and be Killer's aunt or something. Huh? That would work."

Letting out his breath slowly, Fang tried to keep down any of the real things that he wanted to tell her. Instead, he kicked up some sand.

"No, Max."

"Oh…well, can my mother bring me back a dog from that place she's in?"

"No."

"Oh…can I have a bird?"

"No," he repeated, still trying hard to keep his tone level. That was always a hard task when dealing with Max, but this Max, this dumb, stupid Max had already worn his nerves down to frayed endings. "Stop asking me for things, Max. You're not going to stay like this. We're trying to make you, well, you again. Not this you. This you will be irrelevant pretty soon and so will your wants."

She made a face at him. "I like Dylan more than you. Or Nudge. Or the cute little ones. I want to be with them. They would let me have the dog. I deserve a dog!"

What exactly had she done to deserve a dog? Huh? Besides annoying the shit out of him?

"Just be quiet, alright?" He glanced over at her before looking around.

They were walking around in the forest, but Fang was on the lookout for the others, any of them. He didn't necessarily want them to take Max, but if they offered….she was bothering the hell out of him. He just wanted some silence, that's all. He wouldn't, however, give her to Dylan or Iggy for both obvious reasons. No, he was honestly hoping to find Nudge, but only if she wasn't with that stupid boyfriend of hers. Man, did Fang hate that kid…

Max sniffled. "Why are you so mean to me?"

"I'm not trying to be. And don't you start crying again. I mean it." He glanced sideways at her. "You've got to toughen up if you're going to be Max again. Not everything is a personal attack."

"I don't like you."

"Yeah, well, I don't like you either."

"I don't love you either, Fang. Not anymore. I…I don't want you to sleep in our hut anymore. I want Dylan and Killer to-"

"Oh, no. No." He turned on that one, blocking her path. "No way. What the crap exactly do you-"

"I don't want to be your girlfriend anymore," she said, turning also so that her side was facing him. "I'm not going to kiss you anymore, not as long as you're mean to me."

"Max…" Fang was suffering from a disconnect at the moment. This wasn't really Max, but…still. Rejection, you know? And from Max? Max? Fang hated to break it to her, but he was surely the settler in their relationship while she was the reacher. And that's not even adding in her attitude issues.

"You're very, very rude. Not just to me either. I'm having a hard time believing that the real me, the one with the memory, would like this. I don't know anyone who would like you." She crossed her arms. "It's not fair."

Fang took another step closer. When Max was all better, they'd look back on this and laugh. This would all be hilarious. Right now though, he felt like it was life and death. He knew that he wanted to jump Max's bones and he had just had that honor two nights before she lost her memory. If he let Dylan get alone with her for too long…well that was just asking for trouble. Fang couldn't imagine not getting laid for as long as Dylan had gone. No telling what he would do when Max was just offering herself up to him. After that stunt she pulled the night before, Fang wouldn't even blame Dylan if Max did the same thing to him and he thought it was going somewhere. He'd kill him, but he wouldn't blame him.

"Look, Max, until you get back to yourself, you're going to stop questioning me, alright? Next to Iggy, I've known you the longest. And hands down I know you the best. I'm not trying to be mean, I never am. I am, however, trying to keep you safe. And yes, Max, you're annoying me, and yes, okay, I have a short temper, but that doesn't mean that you can just go off deciding things for yourself. I mean, honestly. You've just woken up from a coma or whatever the crap that was. You are not capable of-"

"Because I'm stupid?"

"Did I say that?" He pressed his chest against her side, staring down at her hard. "My Max would never even think of breaking up with me to get with Dyl-"

"Ew." Max looked up at him, her eyes big and curious again. "Would that mean that Dylan and I would have to kiss? Like we do?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess, Max."

"Then I'll just stay with you." Reaching up, she pulled his hair gently. "I like your hair, Fang."

"Thanks, I guess."

She nodded a little bit. "Can I have another feather now?"

Sighing loudly, he took a step back. "No."

"Please?" She was suddenly perky again, just like that. God if she didn't get on his nerves sometimes. "Please, Fang? I'll do anything you want, like, um….I won't talk no more."

"No."

"Why? I thought that you were tough?" She crossed her arms again. "If you're that big of a wimp-"

"Here," he complained, opening his wings. "Take o- Ow!"

"Thank you, Fang, thank you so much. I love you. I love you so much." She moved closer and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "I love you so much. I'm so glad that I'm your girlfriend." Then she held up the feather and rubbed it against his check. "Tickles, huh?"

"Max-"

"Come on." She raced off ahead, but stopped short when she remembered Fang's rule about ditching him. "Hurry, Fang."

"Hurry and what?"

"I wanna show the others what a great boyfriend you are." She waved the feather at him. "And I want to play with Total. I love him. And Akila. Maybe we can even stop by our hut and get Killer…?"

Sighing loudly, he followed along behind her. At least she wasn't crying anymore. At least.

* * *

"Guys, I don't know about this," Angel mumbled, following along behind her brother and David. "I mean, if there really is a ghost-"

"There is," David assured her.

"Then maybe we shouldn't mess with it."

Gasman looked behind him to glare at her. "No one made you come, Angel. In fact, I don't even remember inviting you."

"No one else wanted to go with you guys."

"Because they're nonbelievers," David said, making both the younger children roll their eyes. "We're the true believers. We'll be rewarded for our good deeds one of these days. Promise you that."

"Rewarded by who?" Angel asked.

"The greater beings," he said, gesturing all around.

"…I like Nudge's old boyfriend better," Angel mumbled to the Gasman, but he just shrugged.

"It's not like this guy'll last long anyways. Nudge always has a new boyfriend. Like remember when she dated Dexter?"

"I liked Dexter."

"He was lots of fun."

"He played with us a lot, huh? He was good at hide-and-go-seek."

"Yeah. I could never find him."

"Speaking of…" Angel frowned. "Have you seen him recently?"

Gasman rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

By the time they got to the cave, Gasman was regretting the fact that David told them they had to walk there. They normally would have flown, but he was too far gone to figure out the complex world of flapping your wings. Yeah.

"Alright, you guys ready?" David asked once they finally made it to the top. "You need to be prepped, just in case we see something in there."

Angel rolled her eyes while Gazzy said, "I think we're ready."

David shook his clouded head, trying to think straight. "Let's go."

Throughout their journey through the cave, Angel kept close to her brother. Not because she was scared or anything, because no way did anything scare her these days, but more so because she didn't want to be too close to David. Nudge might like stoners, but they honestly just freaked Angel out. Max had always told her to stay away from the older kids on the island, at least the ones that always smoked the plants. When she asked if that meant she had to stay away from Iggy, Fang, and Ella though, Max just told her not to be a smart mouth.

"You get twenty points if you ditch him in here," the Gasman mumbled to his sister. She shook her head.

"No way. I gave you twenty points three days ago when you peed in Iggy's liquor. Ditching him deserves way more points."

"I don't think so."

"Well, I do."

The siblings had their own never ending game, which involved daring the other to do something, for an allotted amount of points. Currently Angel was up thirty points after poking holes in Iggy's condoms. Those were so scarce that if he ever found out, she would be dead. Not to mention the chance of pregnancy… Gasman chuckled at the though, just knowing how angry Iggy would be if he found out. Sure, it was a very serious matter, but…it was still kind of funny…if you're not the one thinking you're using protection when you aren't.

"I just think-" Gasman stopped short as they finally got to the opening where the séance had been held. "What the f-"

"Dude!" David ran over to the cave walls, running his hand down the streaked red rock wall. "Blood! It's all covered in blood! Man, it feels like I'm trippin' out. Are you guys seeing this?"

"I want to leave," Angel said, taking a step back. "Gazzy, did you do this?"

He shook his head slowing, staring at the bloody walls. "It had to have been the ghost."

"Gasman-" She tried, but it was no used. Both guys were too far gone now.

"But whose blood did the ghost use?" Gazzy asked, to which David shrugged, rubbing his bloody hands on his jeans.

"It's all very perpl…purple…pickle…uh…"

"Perplexing?" Angel offered up, taking even more steps away. The smell of blood was overpowering her to the highest degree. "Gasman, I think that we should- Don't touch it! It could have aids or something."

"David touched it," Gazzy defended, though he withdrew his finger.

"David's an idiot."

The stoner nodded. "It's true."

"We need to get back to Fang or Nudge. Or even Iggy. If this isn't one of your games-"

"It's not."

"-then they all need to know about it." She turned and ran, not caring if the two guys were following her or not. She had been rather young when they lived in the E-Shaped house, but she could remember the older kids watching horror films enough that she knew that bloody walls was not something you messed with. Ever.

* * *

Total was trying to sleep when he suddenly felt a presence. He ignored it at first, but when soft hands began to touch his back, he shot up.

"Oh, puppy. You're awake." Max moved to stroke behind his ears.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Fang sent me to our hut to wait for him, but I came into this one to find you. The Flock's hut. That's what Fang calls it." She tickled his nose with Fang's feather. "Fang gave this to me because he loves me."

"Yes, yes, that's all nice and well, but would you stop touching me?"

Max frowned, rubbing by his tail. "You mean you don't want to get petted? I thought that dogs like being petted."

"That is a stereotype, Max."

"A what?"

"Stereotype. Just because some dogs like- Ooh, do that again."

Smiling once more, she began to rub under his wings. "Can I have a feather?"

"No," he said, closing his eyes again. "But you can keep doing that if you want."

"Okay."

He let out a content sigh. "Where did Fang go that he left you all alone?"

"He had to go with Angel and," she giggled, "the Gasman. They said there was trouble, but he wouldn't let me hear what. It's okay though; he said that Ella or Iggy would come be with me soon."

"Mmmm." Total wagged his tail against his will. "You've never been this nice to me, Max."

"I haven't?" She shook her head. "I like dogs."

"You, the real you I mean, doesn't."

She seemed troubled. "I don't…I don't think I want to remember. Everything everyone tells me about me makes me think that I'm not such a good person."

"There, there, Max, no need to cry over it. There's a good chance you won't remember anyways," Total said though, honestly, he couldn't care less. About anything. Other than himself. So he was self-centered, who cares?

"Max?"

They both looked up as someone called out her name, probably someone that had gone into Fang and her hut, but found that it was empty.

"Where are you?"

"Who's that?" Max asked Total. He just laid his head back down.

"Iggy's girlfriend. They probably sent her to watch you."

"Do I like her?"

"More than Ella, currently."

Max gave him one more soft pat before standing and heading out of the tent. She came face to face with a dirty blonde girl who was a little bit shorter than her. Total had told her that they were friend, sort of, so Max smiled brightly.

"Hi! I'm Max. Fang's my boyfriend." She held up the feather. "He gave me this because we're in love."

Frowning, Gage blinked, taking all of that in. "Well…okay. Fang sent me to watch you because he's-"

"Where's Dylan?" Max came closer. "Is he here? I like Dylan. He's nice. Are you nice?"

"I, uh, guess."

"You have a nice jacket," Max said, reaching out to touch it. "I like it. Fang has a jacket. I've seen it, in our hut."

"O-Oh." She took a step back. Her and Max by no standard were enemies, but they certainly weren't friends. She was just Iggy's new girlfriend to her, nothing more, nothing less. Now though, this Max seemed to want to be more than that.

"I was playing with Total. Have you ever played with Total?"

Gage had only been with Iggy for a few months, but in this few months and her time on the island before that, she never once saw anyone playing with Total. Sometimes Angel might talk to him, but other than that, everyone just put up with his sarcastic remarks and left him alone.

"Uh, no."

"I like him. I asked Fang if I could trade Killer for him, but now I kind of feel bad. Killer is our baby. We should always love him."

"Killer?"

Max made a face before quickly heading over to her and Fang's hut. When she came back out, she was holding up her stuffed dog.

"This is Killer." She held the dog up to Gage's face, apparently also not remembering what personal space was. "He's Fang and my baby. Or at least that's what Fang said."

Gage blinked. "Fang said this?"

"That's what I said."

They both turned to see Iggy coming towards them, narrowly missing running into one of the huts. Gage quickly moved to guide him over, but he just pushed her away, not wanting help with a path that he walked a thousand times before. That's one thing that he missed about Ella; she knew just to let him do his own thing. Gage constantly wanted to do things for him, like he was helpless. Sure, it was nice sometimes, but other times it just annoyed him.

"Hi, Iggy," Max sang. "Is Dylan coming?"

"He wishes."

"What?"

Iggy shook his head slightly. "Nothing. Fang just thought I was pretty useless, deal with the blood and everything, so he sent me to-"

"Iggy, Fang didn't want Max to know about-"

"She's not even really listening, I bet."

Gage glanced at the girl to find that she was busy tickling Killer with Fang's feather. Sighing, she asked, "Has she been like this since she woke up?"

"Yep." Iggy held out a hand and Gage quickly filled it with her own. "Hey, Max, guess what."

"What?"

"Fang said to tell you that you could practice flying some more if you wanted. If Gage and I go with you."

"Gage," Max said slowly, staring at the other girl. "Ga-age. Gage."

"Um-" She took a step back, closer to Iggy.

"Okay!" Max rushed to go put Killer back in the hut, making sure to cover him over, before coming back out to them. "We can fly."

"You know how to and everything? Well?" Iggy asked. "If you fall, I can't catch you and Gage might not be strong enough."

"I can do it. Watch!"

After she ran off and took to the air, Gage turned to her boyfriend.

"Does she know that you're-"

"I would like to think she's not that much of an airhead."

Smiling, she brought his hand up to her mouth and kissed it. "I dunno. She seems kind of ditzy. It's…endearing, though."

"No need to mince words, babe. She's annoying as fuck." Iggy let go of her hand, opening his wings in preparation for takeoff. "But then again, wasn't she always?"

* * *

**Late, I know. I feel like it's been **_**forever**_** since I updated and really I have no excuse other than I just didn't feel like writing. Lame, yes, but honest. **


	5. Chapter 5

Forsaken

Chapter 5

"You look funny with that hat."

Dylan glanced up. "Oh. Yeah. I like it. I got it last time we left the-"

"Take it off." Without giving him the chance, Max reached over and pulled the cap from his head. "There. Now you look like you."

Sighing, he hung his head again. Somehow he had ended up with Max duty. He wasn't sure how though, as Fang seemed deadest against it, but he wasn't complaining. He'd cut off his right hand for Max. He'd cut off both hands for Max.

"I look like me? How would you know? You've only seen me for a few days."

"You look like the you that I saw when I woke up that first day." She reached out again and stroked his hair. "You're pretty. Like a girl. Can I have a feather now?"

Dylan closed his eyes tightly, ignoring the fact that he was enjoying her touching him a little too much.

"No," he said slowly, opening his eyes when he felt his nose being tickled. Max was hold Fang's feather up, rubbing the tip against Dylan's nose. "What are you doing that for?"

"It's pretty, isn't it? Fang's not pretty though. I asked Nudge, when she was watching me, what the word for him would be and she said that maybe hot or handsome or something like that." Max giggled. "Fang's handsome and you're pretty. Fang's like a man and you're like a girl."

A girl? Dylan frowned at her. "I'm just as much of a man as anyone."

"Not me," Max said, shaking her head as she moved back into her own spot. "I'm not a man."

"Oh, trust me, I know."

Max smiled at him. "You wanna go flying?"

Sighing, Dylan leaned back against the rocks, closing his eyes again. "Fang wants you to just stay here, in this spot, until he gets back."

"Fang has too many rules. I wish you were the leader."

Dylan snorted. "Max, Fang's not the leader."

"He's not?"

"Hell no! Then I wouldn't even be allowed on the island."

"Then…who's the leader?"

"You are, silly."

She smiled at Dylan's kind tone. "I'm the leader? Of everything?"

"Of us. There's other people in the world, but you're our leader."

"So if I wanted a dog, I could get one?"

He frowned, but kept his eyes shut. "Yeah, I guess."

"Dylan? Can you get me a dog? You'll be my best friend."

"Why do you suddenly want a dog?" He felt her curl against his side and knew that he should stop this, but he couldn't. Besides, Max still thought that Fang giving her a feather was the ultimate sign of love. Cuddling against him was just an action to her, not a symbol of affection.

"I love Killer," she told him in earnest. "He's Fang and my baby. But I want a real dog. One that talks. Like Total. Can you do that for me?"

"I'll do anything for you," he whispered as Max wrapped his arm around his stomach. Like a girl… In a minute she wouldn't be thinking that… "Max, could you, uh, cut it out?"

"What?"

"This," he said, gesturing to her. "This isn't…Fang would kill me. Just…can you sleep over there?" He pointed further away from him. "I'm sorry. This just is something that we can't do."

"Why?"

"It's something you would do with, like, Fang."

"Oh." She quickly moved away from him. "Oh no. Did I do bad?"

"No," he said slowly. "I just think that we shouldn't-"

"I have to tell Fang."

"No!" Dylan sat up quickly. "You do not tell Fang. Whatever you do, don't tell Fang that you laid close to me. Don't even tell him that you touched my hair. Anything." Dylan knew that in a fight he could take Fang, he had proven that before. Fang, however, had the cunning mind to secretly poison him or kill him in his sleep. Dylan would rather not wake up dead, you know?

"So…we have to keep a secret? Like…friends?"

"The best of friends," he breathed, staring at her. He loved Max so much that at times like this, when she was so innocent and naïve, he wanted to keep her far away from Fang and his uncontrolled anger.

"Okay! Two best friends." Max giggled as she laid down on the ground. "I'm gonna take a nap, okay?"

"Alright," Dylan whispered, turning on his side so that he was facing Max, watching her. "Okay."

* * *

"I'm back."

Fang glanced behind him as Nudge came into the room. "Good. Roll call?"

"The only person that's missing is Kris, but you know that he never shows up when he's supposed to."

"No one has seen him though?" Fang asked, frowning. He had been in the lab, trying to use the radio to get through to Dr. Martinez and Jeb, but he couldn't get either of them on the line. "Since all the others left?"

"Not that I know of."

"Nudge-"

"Fang, you know Kris, he's a loner." She shook her head a little bit. "Give him some time and he'll show back up."

"Then whose blood is that, Nudge?"

"It's probably animal blood," she said dismissively. Honestly, she knew David. And she really knew Gazzy. The two of them had probably cooked up this idea to scare everyone, what with all of the scientists gone.

"Who would do something like that though?"

"Fang, you slaughter animals."

"For meat, Nudge. Meat. And even if this was the Gasman, the second that he hurt Max, he would have known to stop." He just shook shi head. "And David's too stoned out for the most part to give a damn about creeping us out."

"Then what, Fang? Don't tell me you really believe in ghosts." She elbowed him in the ribs. "I mean, come on, Fang. Are you scared? You need me to-"

"Shut up, alright?" He turned away from her. He wished that Max was there. Max always knew what to do. Even when she didn't know what to do, she pretended to. Fang wasn't very good at pretend, except maybe pretending to father Killer. Max, real Max, thought that he was pretty good at that. This Max seemed to too.

"Why are you so tense, Fang? Wait…you honestly believe…Fang, we need to be worried about Max, not this stupid fake monster thing."

"I said to shut up."

She gave him a look. "Max might be submissive to you now, but I know you don't think I am. You don't tell me what to do, Fang. God, you can hardly deal with telling the others what to do."

Setting his jaw, he turned to look at her again. "Max is unable to do anything right now, so things fall onto my shoulders. Not yours. Back off, alright?" Fang rolled his shoulders, popping them. He wanted Max to give him a massage. She was very good at those. "Go do something else. I don't need you in here clouding my t- Oh no. No way."

Nudge turned and saw Ella coming into the lab also. "What?"

"I am not dealing with you," he said pointing at Nudge, "or you," he added, gesturing to Ella. "I don't have time for it and I don't care to do it. Neither of you is Max. You can't be Max, Ella, in the sexual way, so realize I don't want you. And you, Nudge, can't be here in the leadership way. It's cute, the way you try, but I don't need you under my feet. Alright?"

Without waiting for either of them to try and defend their position, he left. Honestly, he never wanted to cheat on Max or anything like that, but having Ella throw herself at him, what with Max being out of the picture for the time being…he just needed to keep himself on the straight path. He knew he would never sleep with her, ever, but if she kept flashing him her breasts, he might enjoy a peek or two.

As for Nudge? She was just maddening.

* * *

"Fang-"

"Shhh." He came into the Flock's hut with a finger pressed to his mouth. "It's alright, Angel."

"No," she said with a shake of her head. "The ghost-"

"There's no such thing," he said, easing himself down onto Nudge's pallet.

"Yeah there is," Gazzy spoke up from the other side of the hut. "There has to be, F-"

"You shut up," he said in an accusatory tone. "I told you all to not go back to that cave."

"David-"

"That's another thing," he said, sitting up again. "I told you to stay away from older kids that did bad things."

"You do bad things," Angel said. "You smoke too. And Iggy."

Fang opened his mouth, but then shut it, thinking. "Still. I'm never around you when I'm smoking. David told me that when you guys came up with the plan, Gazzy, that he was high. You knew it too, didn't you?"

"Yeah," he mumbled, rolling onto his side so that his back was to them.

"Then you're in trouble."

"But-"

"No buts."

"Fang, it's not fair. I was just trying to fix Max."

"Don't you even talk about that. You're still in trouble for hurting her."

"But I didn't!"

"Shut up, now," Fang grumbled, shaking his head slowly. "You need to grow up, Gasman. You're not a little kid anymore."

"I didn't do it!" He yelled as he finally jumped up, running out of the hut. "You're such a stupid prick, Fang. You think that no one but you is right, but you're wrong. You dick."

Angel didn't speak for about five minutes after her brother left. Fang just sat there, shaking his head in anger, so she knew it was better than to mess with him. When she finally did speak though, it was just to tell him that it was late and she was ready for bed.

"Goodnight," Fang told her before standing and leaving the hut, now intent on finding Max. When he finally found her, she was eating dinner with Dylan. Sigh.

"Hi, Fang," Max greeted, quickly picking the feather off the ground and waving it at him. "Dylan and I were waiting for you. I saved you some fruit."

Fang looked around the cliff that Max and her technical counterpart were on, staring out into the dark sky for a moment before sitting down next to her.

"Thanks," he mumbled as Max shoved an orange into his hands. "Dylan, I want you to go-"

"Dylan has a hat," Max suddenly said, lifting it up off the ground. "It doesn't make him look like him though, so he can't wear it."

Fang blinked. "When someone else is talking, Max, you don't talk over them."

"Okay."

Then he addressed his rival again. "Go check in with Iggy and Warpath."

"Who's Warpath?"

Fang shook his head. "Kyle's changed his name again. Just go. They're near the labs."

After he was gone, Max quickly turned to face Fang, holding up the feather.

"I show this to everyone I see. I tell them that you gave it to me because you love me." She tickled his nose, something she seemed to enjoy. "I asked Dylan if he would give me one, but he said no. I asked Iggy and Gage before, but Iggy was very mean." She made a face. "I like Gage though. Do you like Gage?"

Honestly, Fang couldn't care less about her. She was just another person to listen to Iggy bitch, which he did quite regularly. You'd think that he had the hardest life in the world. And yeah, okay, Fang would give it to him that Ella had turned into a little whore recently and so, yeah, he was blind. But come on! Iggy just laid around, smoked, and had sex. Fang actually had to worry about shit. Serious shit.

"I don't dislike her."

Max poked his shoulder. "I told Dylan that you were a man and that he was girl."

"What?"

She just nodded. "Then I told him 'bout how you were leader, because you were a man."

"Oh."

"But he just told me that you aren't a leader. I'm the leader." She smiled at him. "That means I can get a dog."

"Well," Fang said slowly, trying to switch his mindset from astuteness to gentleness. "Maybe when you get your memory back we'll talk about it, huh?"

Max seemed to be mulling this over as she shifted to lean against him. "Okay, but can I ask you something else, Fang?"

"Sure," he agreed, reveling in the fact she was so close. "What?"

"Is it wrong to keep secrets from each other?"

"Between me and you?" He asked, raising his eyebrows when she nodded. "Well, uh, yeah. We shouldn't have secrets. We're supposed to be close. Why?"

"Dylan and I did something and he said to keep it a secret."

"What?"

"I touched him and then he-"

"You what?"

Max gave him a look. "Fang, when someone is talking, you're not supposed to-"

"What did he do to you, Max?" He asked, jumping up, squeezing the orange so tightly in his palm that he squashed it. Not even waiting for her what she had to say, Fang took off after Dylan, fearing the worse. He had hurt Max. He had taken advantage of the situation and hurt Max. Fang had to still his breathing before he hyperventilated. How would he and Max ever be together again? Part of the fun was knowing that they were the only ones that they had ever been with. Now that that was taken from them…what?

"What the shit?" Dylan yelled as Fang bombed into him from the air a minute or two later. He was rare to curse, rarer than Dr. Martinez, but if this wasn't a moment that called for it, he didn't know what was.

"Dude!" Kyle, or Warpath if you asked him, was a pretty wiry guy that looked nothing like the Marvel character from which he chose his name, but he did have the long black hair going for him. However, he was not adept to break up a fight between Dylan and Fang, even if it sounded like Dylan had broken a bone from the crash. "Someone come help!"

"How dare you freaking hurt Max," Fang raved and he pulled back from Dylan enough to balance himself on top of the other boy. That started the onslaught of fists.

"Fang!" Iggy and Gage, who had actually been in the lab instead of outside of it, came rushing out to break them up. Once they had him off Dylan, Gage asked what he thought that he was doing.

"He raped Max!"

"What?" Iggy shoved Fang away from him. Though he would never pretend to care for Max's bossiness and tendency to throw her power away when a guy was involved, he did really care for her, somewhere deep down. Deep, deep, deep down, but it still counted. Kind of. At times like this.

"What?" Dylan pulled himself up enough so that he was resting on his elbows. "I did not…what are you even talking about?"

"She told me about how you told her to keep it a secret and-"

"What? No! She hugged me when we were gong to sleep and I told her not to do it." Dylan turned his head and spit out blood on the ground. There was a good chance that Fang had caused internal bleeding when he bombed him, which scared Dylan because there were no adults on the island to deal with it.

"Then why was it a secret?" Fang asked, jerking out of Gage's hold. She willingly took a step back, not wanting to deal with the situation.

"I knew that you would flip if you saw her touching me so I told her to move away and not to mention it so that stupid crap like this didn't happen!" Dylan held down a miserable groan as he fell back to the ground. "I think you broke my ribs, bro."

Fang just snorted as Max herself landed. "Max, what did Dylan tell you to keep a secret?"

"That I tried to cuddle with him. I was trying to tell you, but you broke a rule and cut me off." Max wagged her finger at him. Then she noticed Gage. "Hi, Gage. We're friends."

"Yeah," she mumbled as she went over to help Dylan up. He leaned heavily on her and she called for her boyfriend to get his other side.

"What happened to Dylan?" Max asked, seeming dismayed. "Did you fall? Have you lost your memory too?"

"Let's take him into the lab," Kyle suggested, leading the way. "Iggy, you're a good medic, yes?"

"I'll take care of him," they heard Iggy respond as they disappeared into the lab. Fang scratched the back of his head as he and Max just stood there.

"Guess it's a bad time to mention that I'm hurt too," he mumbled before looking at her. "Max, you should have told me that he didn't rape you!"

"Rape? Ra-ape. Rape. Like a gorilla!"

So she knows what a gorilla is. Great. Just great. If they ever go to a zoo, he'll be sure to show her one…Idiot.

"But how did Dylan get hurt?" Max asked, now back to the task at hand.

"I, uh, I, erm, did it."

"Did what?"

"I hurt him."

Max stared at him hard for a long time. "You hurt Dylan."

"I did. Only because I thought-"

"A judge," Max said. "We need a judge. And the police. You can't hurt people, Fang."

"You know what a judge is?"

She nodded, frowning. "Yeah. I think."

"Max…" He came closer, but she moved away. "What are you-"

"You're bad now." She moved to go into the cave with the others. "You stay out here and be bad."

"But, I thought that he-"

"Bad."

After Max was gone, Fang just stood there for a few minutes, staring after her. What the hell had just happened?

* * *

"Mmmm," Nudge moaned in a halfhearted complaint, shoving David back slightly. "Cut it out, Dave."

Ignoring her, he kept sucking on her neck, his hands wandering down her stomach at a teasing pace. They had met up after Fang's little freak out in the lab about her and Ella. At first Nudge wanted something to distract her and David was ready to fill in that position, but now….

As much as Fang doubted it and she was sure the rest of the island did too, Nudge had never gone _all_ the way. Sure, she had had a lot of boyfriends, but she had never done it, _done it_. She covered this by switching men constantly, so that they never really had time to get acquainted in that way.

"I said to knock it off." She finally just shoved him off her, though he just moved to hold himself up in pushup position. "God."

"Come on, baby." He moved to kiss her, but she turned her head. "We don't have to do that, but something…"

She could feel his excitement against her and it made her want to vomit. Max normally talked to her about these things and about how waiting until you're with someone you really want to be with was the best thing, but right now, Max thought that a stuffed dog was her child. She had no one to turn to. Fang and Iggy, maybe, but that might just get David killed or hurt. No, she was on her own with this one.

"I don't…I think we should…"

"Nudge." He moved to line their eyes up and she could see the seriousness there. That was hot, how severe he was being when he was normally a goof off constantly. "With that ghost running around, killing people, we might now have much time to-"

"Okay, I'm done," she said, pushing him off completely now. "You stay here and jerk off while thinking about this imaginary ghost, okay?"

"It's not imaginary, Nudge! Let me protect you!"

Shaking her head, she turned and walked off. Max had warned her against stoners, but she never thought this would be the reason.

* * *

It took forever for the whole Flock to find peace that night, each having to find a place to sleep that was away from another member, as they all seemed to be fighting. Who knew that Max's controlling personality was the sticky glue that held the pieces together?

Now, with everyone so spread out and separate, it was easy for a certain member of the Flock to sneak up the mountain and back to that cave, that unguarded cave, to see the demon. The evil spirit that had given Max a head injury had also sunk its claws into another member of the Flock, a more easily manipulated member.

"I've come."

The brainwashed member of the Flock got no response from the demon, none aloud at least. Still, that member just stood there, nodding as if they had heard something.

"With the leader down and all the adults gone, now is the time to attack. Yes," the person whispered the demon's words out loud, still shaking their head yes in agreement. The demon gave such good commands, much better ones than Max had ever given. So driven towards one goal instead of focused on many. Why protect everyone when only a few need to thrive to prolong the world's life? When the dark side is so much more powerful, why would anyone fight for what's right?

"I'll do it," the member whispered. "Take out the head and then destroy the beast. With her down, it's our time to act. I'll act. Oh, I'll act."

With that, the Flock member turned and walked right back out of the desolate, blood covered cave and headed back to camp, back to the place they had chosen to sleep that night. When they got back, they promptly fell asleep, forgetting that only minutes before, they presented themselves to true evil and allowed it to dictate their actions. When they awoke in the morning, they still would have no recollection of the demon, until it called for them again. And when it called for them, oh, just wait.

With Max incapacitated, anything could happen.


End file.
